Qing Ling's seizure of control over the formation was not only left unimpeded by the short, fat Daoist; the man even helped him strengthen the connection.
As Qing Ling's power interacted with the Funeral Wail Formation, the sound of suonas, wailing, and sobbing rose all around, converging into one funeral dirge after another. Strands of black qi rose from the earthen mounds surrounding them, accompanied by falling spirit money, creating an incomparably gloomy and terrifying sight. Yet Qing Ling, standing within it, could sense the majestic, vast, sacred aura hidden beneath that terror and gloom.
It was the meaning of death within the heavenly cycle of "birth, aging, sickness, and death."
The essence of this Daoist's Funeral Wail Formation was to use the grief of the living weeping for the dead as a lure, stirring death into motion and bringing all things to their end.
Only, the source from which it had derived and the form it took were somewhat unusual.
Qing Ling looked around. The falling spirit money and the rising black qi—one was currency cast from the world of the living into the underworld, while the other was the underworld's protection over the living. Of course, their exchange could also be seen as the living bribing the realm of the dead in return for the peace of their departed forebears.
All manner of thoughts mingled together, paired off two by two, like pairs of yin-yang fish circling and transforming around one another.
Countless paper chains gradually emerged from the void. Their links were painted pitch-black, then traced with fresh red pigment into innumerable blood-colored characters. When they collided, the structure of the white paper within could faintly be seen.
Once these chains appeared, they spread out in an overwhelming sweep, locking down every trace of Qing Ling's aura.